Isaiah 41:10

Snake, Corkscrew Swamp Preserve, Naples, FL, AUG 2013

do not fear, for I am with you,
do not be afraid, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.
Isaiah 41:10

I am not an adrenaline junkie who spits in the face of fear to prove to myself that I am fully alive. Those rides at the theme parks that drop you 15 stories straight down, bungy jumping, that sort of thing, just not me. And I doubt God "upholding me" would make the idea of say, sky diving, easier to accomplish. But fear that diminishes our life, that paralyzes us from living and loving in Jesus' name, that binds us instead of freeing us; now that fear needs to hear these words, to experience their ultimate power over such fear.    God, declares Isaiah, is for us. 
And as the apostle Paul will later go one to say, so who can be against us? "Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."